Hospital story

[Guest guest]

Belinda,

Hang in there. It is not fun being so darn dependent on everyone. Every

time I tell I will be just fine if he leaves for a little while,

something always happens. It did while in the hospital.

had had a very long week worrying about me in the hospital so I

told him it would be fine for him to go home and get a good nights rest. He

did, at least for a while.

I had to get to get the times for what happened off of my chart

because they were elusive to me. About 10 PM, the aid came in to take my bp

and temp. I was asleep and they woke me. Problem is that I woke having a

freezing spell. I could not move, talk or open my eyes but I heard

everything that was being said. They asked me about what was wrong, told me

that they had to take my vitals and then asked if I wanted them to call my

husband. I could not respond. They left the room.

About 15 minutes later, I heard 2 voices in the room. They were back with

their bp and temp thingy. Again, I still could not respond. They talked to

me and then pulled my arm out from under the covers and shoved the

thermometer in my mouth. Did their thing and then left the room. My arm

was frozen in the position that they had left it in. I had forgotten to

take my Sinemet at 8 pm and think that I may have also forgotten to take it

at 4 pm.

I was getting very uncomfortable at this point. I tried and tried to move

to no avail. I did work up to being able to use my voice a little and

started calling out to them. They did not come. Somehow, I managed to get

two fingers on my left hand to work and pulled my body on its side and

somehow got my legs off of the side of the bed so that I could stay in that

position to try to open the drawer next to the bed which held my

short-acting Sinemet and get close to the phone.

My grasp for the phone was unsuccessful and it fell to the floor. Still I

cried out, my voice getting a little stronger by now but no one came. I

clawed at the drawer for what seemed to be an eternity. I guess over an

hour had passed before I got the drawer open. When I tried to get my

Sinemet, it too fell to the floor. Somehow, I knew I had to get to the

pills and the phone. I managed to maneuver my non-compliant body over the

edge of the bed and fell to the floor. I took the phone and tried calling

911 (which could not be done at this hospital). I continued to cry out for

help. I even yelled fire. No one came.

With only 2 fingers working, I pulled the phone under my head and called

my husband who realized that I was indeed in trouble. He says that the call

to him came around Midnight. He did not get to the hospital until 1:20 AM

where he found me on the floor, covers wrapped around my ankles and pills

scattered all around me. I had managed to get the bottle open using my chin

and had to lick 2 pills up off the floor to get them into my mouth.

The horror of it all was that somewhere between my reaching and his

arrival, the nurses did indeed hear my cry's. I could hear them laughing

and saying " Now she wants us...ha ha ha. "

They never once responded to me, nor did they come to the room to check on

me. They were having a grand time telling everyone what a non-compliant,

b**** of a patient that I was.

got there and saw me on the floor with the pills all me. He yelled

for the nurses who came in the room. says that they were more

interested in covering my bare ass than they were in getting me back into

bed. I was dehydrated by that time and terrified. I can understand

ignorance but cruelty is a different story.

The charge nurse came in the next morning and a full report was filed. I

never saw the nurse who did this to me again and hope that she lost her job.

Moral to the story. If you go into the hospital, make sure that they know

that if the person with the disease does not respond, it is because of the

disease, not because they are being difficult. I wound up with bruises on

my elbow from the fall and yet another nightmare experience to tell of

hospitalizations.

After talking to my PCP the next morning. Orders on my chart were changed

where I had to be checked on at least every 2 hours and exactly what I was

doing when they checked on me documented. 2 am, lying on left side, 4 am,

lying on right side, etc. I received very good care before and after this

incident. But folks, it only takes one ignorant person to mess everything

up and leave you in harms way.

Deborah aka Tenacity

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